Professor Hawking has twelve honorary degrees, was awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honour in 1989. He is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes and is a Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Albert Einstein
The Mathematician/Physicist who had a learning disability and did not speak until age 3. He had a very difficult time doing maths in school. It was also very hard for him to express himself through writing.
Alexander Graham Bell
Had a learning disability
Cher Has dyslexia
Christopher Reeve
Never has a person with a disability commanded so much media attention in recent history. Christopher Reeve, crippled after a horse-riding injury, wants to be up on his feet & wants to help others stand confident too. His life is now dedicated to harnessing the power of medical research to get up & ride again.
David Blunkett
The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP is without doubt Britain's most famous guide dog owner. Often photographed with his guide dogs - Ted, Offa and Lucy - David Blunkett also holds the powerful political post of Home Secretary. Joining the Labour party aged 16, he was elected to Sheffield City Council aged 22. He was the council leader from 1980 to 1987 until he was elected MP for Sheffield Brightside. Seen as the archetypal municipal Socialist, he is in many senses a traditional Labour man - beard-wearing and blunt-talking. Arguably, he is a role model for disabled people who just want to get on with their lives.
Thomas Edison
Edison had a learning disability. He couldn't read until he was twelve years old and had a very difficult time writing even when he was older.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Roosevelt had Polio, was governor of New York State then elected President of the United States for 4 terms.
George Washington
Had a learning disability. He could barely write and had very poor grammar skills.
Francsico de Goya
Spanish painter (1746-1828): At age 46, an illness left him deaf. He went on to create the most famous Spanish art of the 19th century.
Helen Keller
(Devoted Life to Persons with Disabilities) She was Blind, Deaf, and Mute
Ian Dury
movement/walking disability, resulting from polio. Hits from 1978 ("Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick") into 1980's. Recorded "Spasticus Autisticus" which was banned from radio, not surprising, as lyrics could be mis-construed as disabled-ist
John Milton
English Author/poet (1608-1674): He became blind at age 43. He went on to create his most famous epic, Paradise Lost.
Lord Byron
"Mad, bad and dangerous to know", Britain's great romantic was also born with talipes, a club foot. It is said that he "walked with difficulty but wandered at will". He toured Europe extensively and captured the popular imagination through his poetry and his personality. From gloomy egoism through to satiric realism he was renowned for his writings, his sexual ambivalences and his championing of Greek independence from the Turks. Disability activist Tom Shakespeare summed him up in the following way: "Most of his poetry hasn't stood the test of time, but he was a blockbuster in his day, and like very few other heroes, his name is still used as an adjective - 'Byronic', meaning dashing.
Lord Nelson
Viscount Horatio Nelson is certainly Britain's greatest naval hero. His skill as a naval commander is, of course, well-documented. He won crucial victories at Trafalgar in 1805 and the Battle of the Nile in 1798, during the wars with revolutionary and Napoleonic France. What is less often remarked upon is that a great part of his naval career and his major victories were won as a disabled person. Going ashore in Corsica following the fallof Toulon, a French shot flung debris into his face leaving him without sight in his right eye.
Later, an assault on Tenerife resulted in a shattered right elbow - back on his flagship the arm was amputated. He carried on as a disabled seaman for nearly ten years, securing his most important naval victories at the Battle of the Nile and the infamous Battle of Trafalgar - where he died on October 21, 1805. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't say "I see no ships". Instead he said, during the Battle of Copenhagen, "... I have only one eye. I have a right to be blind sometimes" and, raising his telescope to his blind eye, "I really do not see the signal".
Ludwig van Beethoven
(Famous Musician) - known to be deaf
Marla Runyan
One of the women representing the Unites States in the 1500 metre track event at the 2000 Olympics was Marla Runyan. The American runner finished seventh in her preliminary heat and rose to sixth in the semi finals to qualify for the finals. During the final race, Marla lost track of the major competitors. She finished in eighth position, 3.20 seconds behind the gold medal winner. In 1996, Marla set several track and field records at the Paralympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Following that success, Marla wanted to compete in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney -- even though she is legally blind. The 31-year-old runner has been diagnosed with Stargardt disease. This is a condition that leaves her with a limited ability to see what is in front of her. In Sydney, Marla became the first legally blind athlete to compete in an Olympics.
Marlee Matlin is a stand-up comedian and an actress. Some of her films include A Dead Silence, My Party,A Hear No Evil, A Bridge to Silence, A Walker, and A Children of A Lesser God. In 1987, she captivated the world by winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in the film A Children of a Lesser God. Marlee Matlin became deaf in infancy due to Roseola infantum. However, deafness has not disabled her or her career.
Michael Bolton
(famous Singer): Deaf in one ear
Robin Williams
(famous Hollywood Star) was diagnosed to be suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) as a child. He never refuses a role related to medicine e.g Awakenings, Patch Adams.
Sarah Bernhardt
French actress (1844-1923) Disabled by a knee injury, her leg amputated in 1914, she continued starring on stage until just before her death. She is regarded as France's greatest actress -- "The Divine Sarah".
Stephen Hawkings
Physicist/mathematician has Lou Gehrigs Disease and is in a wheelchair. He needs a computer to speak.
Sudha Chandran
(Indian actress and classical dancer) This brave lady dances with a Jaipur foot. She has acted in a movie on classical dance called "Nache Mayuri" & today acts in a variety of TV serials.
Tanni Grey-Thompson
Tanni Carys Davina Grey-Thompson OBE - to give her full name and title - is the disabled athlete that most people instantly recognise. Formerly Tanni Grey - the Thompson was added following her marriage in 1999 - she has competed in Paralympic Games since 1988, representing Britain at distances ranging from 100m to 800m. She has won fourteen paralympic medals including nine golds, and has broken over twenty world records. As a wheelchair athlete she was also the winner of five London marathons - in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2001. In recent years, she has established herself as a TV presenter - including BBC TWO's From the Edge disability magazine programme.
Tom Cruise
(Hollywood Star): is severely dyslexic
Walt Disney
Had a learning disability
Woodrow Wilson
U.S. President from 1913-1921. Had a learning disability - he was severely dyslexic
John Wesley Powell - Explorer, Geologist (1834-1902) John Wesley Powell had an strong interest in nature and science even as a child. After he lost his right arm in the Civil War, his father urged him to become a minister saying, "Wes, you are a maimed man, get this notion of science and adventure out of your mind." Ignoring this John Wesley became a science professor and explorer who developed an interest in preserving Native American cultures. In 1879, he founded the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of Ethnology to study and record the traditions of Native Americans.
More information: John Wesley Powell Memorial Museum
"Blind Tom" Wiggins (1849-1908) Thomas Wiggins was a slave from Georgia who may have been autistic. From an early age he had the ability to compose and play music and he toured concert halls in Europe and America as a musical oddity. Geneva Handy Southall wrote a book about him entitled, "Blind Tom, The Black Pianist Composer: Continually Enslaved."
More Information: Archangels Unaware - a biography from Twainquotes
Franklin Delano Roosevelt - U.S. President (1882-1945) Franklin Roosevelt served for 3 terms as President of the United States and helped pull the country out of the depression through social programs. He also led the U.S. through World War II. Due to polio, FDR could not walk unassisted. Unfortunately, because of the times, he felt he had to hide the extent of his disability from the American public.
More Information: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library & Digital Archives
Dorothea Lange - Photographer (1895-1965) Dorothea Lange walked with a limp due to contracting polio at the age of seven. She said of her disability - "I think it was perhaps the most important thing that happened to me. If formed me, guided me, instructed me, helped me, humiliated me, all those things at once. I've never gotten over it, and I am aware of the force and power of it." Lange spent her life traveling the world photographing mostly the disenfranchised.
More Information: Library of Congress: Women Come to the Front - Journalists, Photographers, and Broadcasters During World War II - Dorothea Lange
Oakland Museum of California - Dorothea Lange Archive
Frida Kahlo - Artist (1907-1954) Born in Mexico, Frida Kahlo is known throughout the world for her unusual, colorful, and sometimes disturbing paintings. Her disabilities stemmed from childhood polio and a horrible bus accident when she was eighteen. Many of her paintings reflect the physical pain she suffered through most of her life. Kahlo was also active in Mexican political causes which led to her joining the Communist Party.
More Information: Art Cyclopedia - Frida Kahlo - links to Kahlo's art on the web
Harilyn Rousso - Disability Rights Activist/Psychotherapist (1946-) After earning a degree in economics from Brandeis University and working for a while at the Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington, DC, Harilyn Rousso discovered she had an interest in a career that would involve interpersonal relationships. She became an activist after being dropped from a psychotherapy training institute solely because of her disability. Harilyn was also involved in the women's movement and became active in trying to get both movements to acknowledge and incorporate each other. In the early 1980s she helped design the Networking Project for Disabled Women and Girls, and in 1988 Harilyn edited the book, Disabled, Female, and Proud.
More Information: Women Make Movies - Positive Images: Portraits of Women with Disabilities by Harilyn Rousso and Julie Harrison Disabled Yet Intact: stories from a life in progress "Birth, Mine" - Harilyn Rousso memoir
Judy Heumann - Assistant Secretary of Education (b. 1947) Judy Heumann fought all her life to be included in the educational system. When the New York City Board of Education refused to let her teach, even the ACLU would not help, but after a long struggle she eventually won her case. In 1970 Judy and several disabled friends founded Disabled in Action, an organization that set out to secure the protection of people with disabilities under civil rights laws. She moved to Berkeley in 1973 where she served as deputy director of the Center for Independent Living and led the takeover of the HEW offices in San Francisco to get Califano to sign the Section 504 regulations. In 1983, with Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann cofounded the World Institute on Disability, and then served as Assistant Secretary of Education in charge of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation. In June 2002, Judy Heumann became the World Bank Advisor on Disability & Development.
Actors and Actresses
j. Sandy Duncan - Vision disability
i. Lou Ferrigno - Hearing disability
h. Annette Funicello - Multiple sclerosis
d. Katherine Hepburn - Parkinson's disease
g. Mary Tyler Moore - Diabetes, alcohol
b. Patricia Neal - Stroke
e. Richard Pryor - Multiple sclerosis
c. Sammy Davis, Jr. - Vision disability, cancer
f. Danny Glover - Epilepsy
a. Marlee Matlin - Deaf
Athletes
e. Arthur Ashe - AIDS
g. Jim Abbot - Has only one hand
f. Dennis Byrd - Spinal cord injury
h. Lou Gehrig - ALS
a. Bruce Jenner - Learning disability
b. Wilma Rudolph - Post polio syndrome
d. Greg Louganis - Learning disability and AIDS
Musicians
g. Ludwig von Beethoven - Deaf
d. Ray Charles - Blind
c. Ronnie Milsap - Blind
h. Teddy Pendergrass - Quadriplegia
f. Itzaac Perlman - Paraplegia
e. Stevie Wonder - Blind
b. Mal Tillis - Stutter
a. Jose Feliciano - Blind
Politicians and Leaders
g. Alexander the Great - Epilepsy
h. Julius Caesar - Epilepsy
e. Winston Churchill - Learning disability
i. James Brady - Traumatic brain injury
a. Daniel Inouye - Amputation (WWII)
b. Ronald Reagan - Hearing disability and Alzheimer's
f. Frankin D. Roosevelt - Polio
d. Teddy Roosevelt - Asthma, vision disability
j. Bob Dole - Injury to arm (WWII)
c. Woodrow Wilson - Learning disability
Other Famous People
j. Thomas Edison - Hearing disability
f. Albert Einstein - Dyslexia
k. Steven Hawking - ALS
h. Harriet Tubman - Traumatic brain injury, narcolepsy
g. Francisco Goya - Deaf
i. Edgar Allen Poe - Alcohol addiction
e. H.G. Wells - Epilepsy
a. Louis Braille - Blind
b. Sigmund Freud - Cancer
d. John Milton - Blind
c. Helen Keller - Blind and deaf |
